Remember... we are one
There has been so much commentary and sadness in the wake of the horrendous hate crime and shooting tragedy in Christchurch, New Zealand, there seems little more to say while remaining objective.
What we know is that New Zealand is so close to Australia, historically, culturally, socially and geographically, that the mass murder might as well have been in the Wimmera.
What we can perhaps do is go back and again consider and reflect on the substance of an editorial The Weekly Advertiser ran in September, 2015.
The editorial was based round the immortal words of Raffaello Carboni, one of the key figures involved in the 1854 Eureka uprising in Ballarat.
Carboni called on diggers, and we urge Australians to now take this as meaning all of us, to... “irrespective of nationality, religion or colour to salute the Southern Cross as a refuge of all the oppressed from all the countries on earth.”
In understanding the ‘them and us’ racial motives of the Christchurch killer, Carboni’s words all those years ago are perhaps even more profound today than they were at the time.
We can only hope that we can use the cold act of barbarism that has torn at the heart of Australasia to rekindle a collective sense of solidarity between us all, regardless of our ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds. ‘I am, you are, we are…!’
And in our backyard
Venturing back on what’s happening in our own backyard, and it is hard to imagine how anyone could believe fouling up a public waterway with dead animals is a good idea.
But that’s what has happened in the Wimmera River at Riverside on the eastern outskirts of Horsham.
The dropping of the river level in Horsham weir pool following Horsham Fishing Competition revealed grisly remains of several slaughtered foxes.
The animals had most likely been simply dumped in a gross act of littering.
They might have also been used as an ill-informed method to either attract fish or bait.
Either way, it’s simply not on and we encourage anyone to report such activities to relevant authorities.
Inland waterways are precious and many people use the Wimmera River for a variety of recreational activities including swimming.